The Kingdom of Castile and Leon

Although the Kingdoms of León and Castile were united at two separate occasions during the 11th and 12th centuries, it was not before 1230 that their crowns were finally united when the King of Castile inherited the throne of León.

At the beginning of the 11th century there was a new Reconquista mounted by the Christian kingdoms on the Peninsula, which will gain its unstoppable momentum only at the beginning of the 13th century when the Castile-León conquests reached Andalusia. In mid-14th century the dangers of new attacks from northern Africa were definitely eliminated, while Granada remained the only Moorish stronghold on the Peninsula. More than anything, the Reconquista was a war of conquest which will only later gain a religious component and a justification, which could be compared to the ideology of Jihad on the opposite side. Knightly orders, such as the Knights Templar, the Order of Santiago, Order of Calatrava, Order of Alcántara, and Order of Aviz, who defended the borders and participated in the conquests, also played an important role. In addition to conquering territories, the Reconquista included the process of settling the devastated areas with Christian population which could defend the borders in the future.

In the 14th century, in the territory of Castile, but the territories of Aragon and Portugal as well, rich Jews and Muslims, as well as the cultural elites of these two groups, were surely under greater protection than others, seen as how their activities served the needs of the same Christian classes. The nobility was altogether too poor to measure up to the king, so they saw more profit in remaining in his service. Often made scarce by wars, the nobility was replaced by brave commoners and European adventurers. The Castilian language will become the language of culture and official communication, although the Kingdom’s population also used the languages spoken in León, the Basque Country, the Galician-Portuguese language etc.